Essay by Eric Worrall

In Coober Pedy, white people live in comfortable dugouts, while Aboriginals swelter on the surface. But is this really a climate change racial divide?

In the Australian outback, climate change widens the racial divide

Story by Michael E. Miller

COOBER PEDY, Australia — From her front door, Sonya Crombie can see the sandstone hills where White men carved up the land in search of opal and then stayed, turning their mines into elaborate underground homes insulated from the desert heat.

But when Crombie’s air conditioner broke in November just as the scorching summer was about to set in, the ailing 60-year-old Aboriginal woman had no tunnel in which to take refuge. As the temperature in her state-run house topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit, Crombie struggled to breathe. Emergency workers flew her 500 miles to a hospital.

“I nearly died,” she said. “This heat can kill you.”

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Belowground, the town’s mostly White residents live in “dugouts” — bought, sold and expanded in certain neighborhoods — where the temperature stays in the low to mid-70s and electricity bills are modest.

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Aboveground, Aboriginal people, who make up 17 percent of the town, swelter without air conditioning or rack up enormous electricity bills. Crombie owes the district council almost $11,000, largely from using her now-broken air conditioner. Records show that 76 account holders, many Aboriginal and indigent, owe a total of $350,000.

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Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in-the-australian-outback-climate-change-widens-the-racial-divide/ar-AA1BdLc9

This has got to be one of the most fake climate stories I’ve ever covered.

I’ve never been to Coober Pedy, but I’ve been to Broken Hill in the summer, which has a similar climate. That place is hot. The satnav holder on my windshield melted in the desert sun.

But in winter temperatures in Coober Pedy are mild, with top temperatures in the high 60s or low 70s.

Why don’t the aboriginals have their fair share of dugouts?

Most of those dugouts started as mine shafts, miners searching for opal. The white people didn’t steal mineshafts from the aboriginals, they dug the mineshafts themselves, or used their own money to buy underground homes from those who built them.

I’m not expecting a 60 year old with ailing health to dig through a multiple tons of solid rock, but their younger and more athletic relatives could easily dig a few dugouts for their parents and grandparents, or dig homes for themselves and let the grandparents stay in the hotter months. Coober Pedy Summer daytime temperatures are insufferable, but as soon as you get a few feet underground temperatures drop dramatically, maintaining a comfortable 23-25C (73F – 77F) all year round.

The fact young people aren’t helping their distressed elders says more about social breakdown in the aboriginal community than climate change.

Let’s hope younger aboriginals take the initiative and start taking care of their old folk. You never know, while digging new homes they might even find a bit of opal.

Click here for an interesting article on the history of Coober Pedy.